Carly Fiorina is one of John McCain's chief surrogates, particularly talking him up to women. But Fiorina, who was ousted as chief of Hewlett-Packard in 2005, is not above lying to soften the edges on McCain's positions that are unpopular with women.
On Monday, Fiorina said this to a group of reporters "Let me give you a real, live example, which I've been hearing a lot about from women. There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won't cover birth control medication. Those women would like a choice." She said. And then for emphasis, she repeated "Those women would like a choice."
Clearly, women don't need to chose between birth control and Viagra. So by saying those women would like a choice, just what did Fiorina mean? Is she trying to make McCain look Pro-Choice?
This is not the first time that Fiorina has taken some license with McCain's positions. She recently told women in Columbus, Ohio that McCain "has never signed on to efforts to overturn Roe vs. Wade." This is a blatant falsehood and misrepresentation of McCain's position, since McCain's own campaign website states "John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that."
When it comes to the birth control issue, in a rebuttal to Fiorina's Monday comments, the group Pro-Choice America was happy to point out that McCain twice voted against measures that would have required insurance companies to cover birth control -- in 2003 and in 2005.
The Republican said Wednesday that he did not recall those votes. "It's something that I had not thought much about." he added.
Now that will make him popular with women voters.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/07/09/mccain-squirms-on-birth-control-question/
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That probably won't come as a surprise to Brauchli or anyone else in the industry. Many people at the Post sense that the paper's culture is troubled. One insider described the place this week to me as "dysfunctional." Another Post writer and editor, one of the paper's most esteemed, told me that the paper seems to be "sort of imploding," with some of the biggest names more committed to books, TV and other endeavors than to the daily publication of the paper. Brauchli is going to have to win over those distracted heavy hitters. History suggests trying to change newspapers from above, without winning over senior staff, generally tends to fail.
All of this, in the end, likely turns back to the first challenge—economics. If Brauchli and Weymouth can win here, the whole industry, not just Post stalwarts, will cheer. In Weymouth, Brauchli has a publisher who seems committed to the inevitable truth of technology: the next generation of readers, if there is one, will be online. There is no future if that is not realized. And the Post, with family control, a commitment to quality and subsidies from other businesses to help, is as well situated to the test as anyone left in the business.
Longtime media critic Tom Rosenstiel is director of the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism in Washington, D.C., a research group that studies the performance of the media. He was chief congressional correspondent at NEWSWEEK in 1995 and 1996.
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